


Un-Break My Heart

by maderi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, CW: Almost Drowning, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Heartache, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Surfing, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21873061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maderi/pseuds/maderi
Summary: When Keith moved to a beach town with his parents, he never expected to find a best friend in his neighbor. He never expected to learn how to surf either. There were a lot of things about Shiro Keith didn't expect. But more than anything, Keith never expected Shiro to break his heart.
Relationships: Keith's Father/Krolia (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41
Collections: Sheith Reverse Big Bang 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For this years Sheith Reverse Big Bang I was lucky enough to be partnered up with the talented Synne(sai)! The art that inspired this story took my breath away. I had so much fun writing this story, so I hope you all have fun reading this too! 
> 
> Remember to have a look at Synne's beautiful art!
> 
> https://twitter.com/synnesai/status/1208080048445485056?s=19

It’s a quiet, peaceful morning, one without clouds, where the sun shines and paints the early morning with a warm glow. Keith had just rolled the lawnmower to the front yard when he saw Shiro jogging up the street. His neighbor is glittering with sweat, visible even from this distance. The muckles bouncing up and down with every movement, the flimsy singlet and tight shorts doing absolutely nothing to hide the older man’s massive frame. 

‘It should have been illegal.’ Keith thinks, biting his lip as he adjusts his rapidly chubbing boner. 

“Keith!” Shiro greets loudly when he passes his own house, hand raised high in a lazily waved ‘hello’. 

The soft breeze that follows Shiro as he comes to a stop before Keith’s lawnmower, hits him like a punch to the stomach. It’s hot and moist, smelling salty and musky, teasing Keith’s nose with what Shiro might smell like all hot and bothered for him. Keith’s knees go wobbly, making him grip the handle of the lawnmower to stand upright, to keep from going down like a sinking ship. 

Shiro grins at him, eyes twinkling like stars in a faraway galaxy. He’s beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Keith can feel his whole face heating up, spreading down to splash across his shoulders and chest. He must look ridiculous where he’s standing. 

“Up so early?” Shiro grins, jabbing at Keith’s ribs with a finger as he grins like a maniac, obviously proud of himself. 

“Yeah, thought I’d get a head start today.” He smiles back, softly swatting at Shiro’s hand. 

“A bit early to be mowing the lawn, don’t you think? What would your neighbor say?”

“Well, I know for a fact that my neighbor isn’t at home. In fact,” Keith grins wickedly, ”He’s standing in front of me, all sweaty and stinky.”

Shiro’s face goes instantly pink. He lifts an arm to no doubt scratch at the back of his neck like he does when he’s embarrassed, but think better of it, face going a shade darker. 

“Sorry.” Shiro smiles, opting to twin his fingers together instead. 

“Just teasing you, Shiro.” Keith has to say to put the big lump of embarrassing mess in front of him out of his misery. “I haven’t seen you around lately, work keeping you busy?”

At that, Shiro lights up at once. Keith didn’t know anyone who loved talking about their work more than Shiro did. It was his ace whenever he’d push Shiro too far, the older man so easily embarrassed.

“Yes! Allura came up with a new method to...” Shiro starts explaining how this and that might work to make wormholes more accessible for everyone. Keith didn’t know the itty bitty details of it, but he got the whole picture, being able to nod and hum at the right stuff. 

He loved listening to Shiro talk, something the other man hopefully didn’t understand. Keith tried to be as interested in Shiro’s work as his knowledge would let him, but more often, Keith would find himself asking deeper questions, digging deeper into what parts of the conversation he didn’t yet understand. 

If he was being completely honest, he cheated a little as he went to Pidge, a friend he met in college, for a better understanding of certain mechanics. He just loved seeing Shiro’s face light up when he could contribute to the conversation, even asking questions about this and that, which made Shiro look all gooey and exciting. 

But lately, Shiro had been especially busy. He would leave early and get back after dark. For at last the past month, the weekdays had gone like that. Saturday’s and Sunday’s seemed to be Shiro’s days off, much like today. 

“I’m probably boring you with all this work stuff.” Shiro, back to his normal skin tone, laughed awkwardly. “Hey, I was gonna go down to the beach, see if I could catch a few waves. Wanna come?”

“What, now?” Keith gapes, looking at the clock on his phone. 6:45 am. 

“Well, early birds and all that.” Shiro grinned, looking hopefully down at him. 

“Sure. That sounds like fun. Let me just change and get my board.” Keith agrees, feeling the butterflies in his stomach flutter to life again. 

“Great, Keith,” Shiro grins, “Meet you out here in ten?”

“Sounds good.” 

Keith watches as Shiro hurries back to his own house, skin-tight shorts leaving nothing to the imagination as it clings to Shiro’s generous behind. Oh, how Keith would love to get a hold of it one day. 

It’s not often that they get to do this anymore. Keith only learned to surf after his family and he moved down here. His father had gotten a promotion they didn’t want to turn away, so they had packed up their stuff and moved down here. His mom and he had worked hard to be able to expand her mechanical shop, Keith taking two years off to make it happen. And then, just before they had reached his mother’s goal, his father had been promoted. 

It had been thrilling to open up a new shop in a new place, but his mother was nothing if not smart. She started advertising for paint repairs, fillers, and blowouts. The sand down here wearing down vehicles faster than anything they were used to up north. Within a month of the opening, Krolia was swamped enough to hire three employees. It had been a brilliant start to their adventure, now two years down the road and Krolia was about to open her third shop, this one focusing entirely on paint and damage prevention. 

Keith had never been prouder of his parents than he was right now. They both loved their work and were successful at it, something that calmed him greatly. Staring out, they hadn’t had much. Their house wasn’t much bigger than a shed, his father working overtime as a fireman to make ends meet. His mother had to stay at home with him, but as Keith grew, Krolia would get her opportunity to shine. 

He wasn’t really sure what his mother had worked with before they got him, but one day, when his father’s hoverbike broke down, Krolia went tinkering with it, miraculously making it purr to life the next day. His mother had started working at an automobile shop where she met Antok, the two of them hitting it off at once, making fast friends. 

It was how Keith got to meet his best friend, Regris, Antok and his husband, Kolivan’s, son. With time, Krolia and Antok opened their own shop and as the years went by, they eventually opened their own stores, working together to help promote each other. It had been the break they needed. His father had climbed the ladder at the fire station, becoming captain and they were able to buy a new house where they lived comfortably for many years. 

With this much work to get to where they were today, Keith had made it his goal to help his parents with whatever they would need. So when they had finally moved out here, Keith could lower his shoulders for the first time in two years, secure in the fact that his parents had everything they needed. 

With some time before college started, Keith had a little time to think about his life and what he wanted out of it. He hadn’t really focused much on his childhood growing up, more busy with helping his mother and being as helpful as he could. As a result, he knew that he could be a little bit stiff, a little rough around the edges as he hyperfocused on something, but that was mostly because he didn’t like to be around many people, never had. People made him nervous, antsy even. 

They had learned that the hard way when Keith’s first few panic attacks rolled in. At first, they hadn’t known how to deal with them, but as the time flew, his parents read up and asked around about every way to deal with grounding until they had found something that helped Keith. When Regris started popping around, attaching himself to Keith, his panic attacks had changed. Regris had been outgoing and fun, always dragging Keith with him everywhere, letting him experience stuff he’d never done before. 

Keith hadn’t known how to act around other children, but neither did Regris. They were the perfect match, grounding and supporting each other as they grew. At one point, they had been inseparable, enough so that their parents had started to worry. Regris’ family’s private doctor had told him that it was perfectly normal for young kits to be attached at the hip, especially when there weren’t any other Galran kits around. 

All in all, Keith had had a good time growing up with Regris, but he never grew out of his quirkiness. It left him the odd duckling in school and would no doubt do the same in this new beach town in a college with people he had never seen in his life. Keith was hellbent on making it work though. For his parents, if nothing else.


	2. Chapter 2

The first few days in the new house had been horrible. Boxes littered the rooms, no one knew where anything was and if it hadn’t been for Keith getting the home-office by the front door as his bedroom, he would have literally walked into a wall out of sheer stress.

It came as no surprise when his room was the first one to be unpacked, looking meticulous. That, of course, made him the head of unpacking the rest of the house while his parents were at work. Not that Keith actually minded the work, it was a nice task to keep his mind busy while he waited for college to start up. 

Almost a week had passed when Keith finished unpacking everything last bit, putting seasonal boxes into their storage room, even marking them correctly, sorting them according to the year. It had made his father laugh fondly when he saw their new system. 

It left Keith with nothing to do though, something that never boded well for anyone. Keith had always been an active child, always helping out with something, spending his days working to occupy his mind. Now, he was left with nothing to do but stare at a wall or watch some tv show.  
His mother had asked if he wanted to come to help out at the new shop, but with as many employees she now had, he knew he would be stuck doing something meaningless. He had kindly turned her down with the explanation that he had lots to do already. As a spur of the moment, he told her that he had lots of books and stationaries to get before the school year started. 

Which took him exactly an hour of research and another two to collect what he needed. Patience had never been his forte, something Regris had never let him forget. 

With the time to think, Keith sank back into his own head. He didn’t want to go there, but he missed their old house, both the shack and the one they were able to build later on. He missed his old friends, Regris especially, but most of all, he missed his old life.

Before he had a sense of purpose, a goal he and his mother worked towards, something that would make it easier for the family as a whole. Now though, he had nothing to do for a while. 

“Give this place a chance, huh?” Krolia asked him one day. 

He’d been sitting outside on their front porch, just watching time go by. It was a pretty little neighborhood, quiet and not too close to the other houses. It was still a huge huge change for Keith. In their old home, they couldn’t even see their closest neighbor. It had been...safe.

Now, Keith woke up with every little sound. He wasn’t used to this urban way of living, of having to share his space with other people, with other families. A full week of barely sleeping made Keith a very quiet son, more so than normal. 

“I’m sure you’ll like it here too, Keith.” 

“Yeah...” Keith had smiled up at his mother, hoping it looked somewhat reassuring.

His mother seemed pleased enough as she got into her car and drove off to work. His father lay upstairs, sleeping after a long shift. It left Keith alone on the front porch again. 

“Oh, hey!” A man coming out of his neighbor’s house greets. “You’re our new neighbors, aren’t you?”

Keith finds himself nodding as a blush creeps in over his cheeks. The guy is tall, broad and handsome, his eyes a special almost grey color that radiates kindness and pulls Keith into their depts. He has a wide scar across his nose and cheeks, a white tuft of hair in the front of his pitch-black hair, a rather weird fashion statement Keith thinks, then proceeds to check out the rest of the guy. He’s wearing a black tank top and white shorts, but more than that, his body is covered in scars, his right arm replaced by a prosthetic. He doesn’t look very fashionable to Keith, especially not with a surfboard under his arm. But then again, what did Keith know of fashion. 

“It’s so nice to meet you! I’m Shiro, your next-door neighbor.” The handsome man says, grinning charmingly as he reaches for Keith’s hand. 

“...I’m Keith.” Keith manages to force out, face flushed and wide-eyed as he stares up at his new neighbor. 

“Nice to meet you, Keith! I hope you guys settle in ok and we see each other again some time!” Shiro says cheerfully, smiling widely as he waves, biceps bouncing as if dancing sensually, as Shiro moves towards his truck, putting the surfboard in the bed before jumping in and driving off.

“Bye...” Keith finds himself waving after the metallic blue truck and the most cheerful neighbor he had ever had. 

He might have stood there for ten minutes, he might have stood there for an hour, Keith didn’t exactly know, too occupied with his thoughts to notice. Eventually, he emerged, looking around himself as if seeing it for the very first time. 

Keith spent the rest of the morning tinkering on a device in his room and didn’t emerge until noon when he decided to go sightseeing. How he found himself at the beach half an hour later, was beyond him, a sheer coincidence that had nothing to do with his handsome surfer neighbor. 

Standing at the concrete pathway leading onto the sand, Keith guessed it was nice enough. The sound of the waves rolling in over the sand was calming with the seagulls in the distance croaking. The salty sea air was nice too. It was different, for sure not the dessert he had grown up in.

Putting his hands in the hoodie, Keith looked down at the light sand in front of him. He didn’t exactly have the right shoes to be at the beach, the sneakers would no doubt fill with sand that he would be dragging with him for weeks to come. His mother wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to have sand in their new home either. 

Looking around at his surroundings, Keith saw a whole bunch of shops that sold all kinds of beachwear. A pair of flip flops would be enough for today though. He had no intention of entering the water or tanning. And then he remembers that he didn’t bring his wallet.

“Just great. Peachy....” He sighs deeply, annoyance starting to seep into him.

“Oh hey! Keith was it?” A voice Keith immediately recognizes as Shiro’s call from behind him.  
“Oh - uh yeah,” Keith stumbles, too busy looking at the gorgeous way Shiro’s hair has floofed into, probably from being wet.

“It’s so nice to see you again,” Shiro beams down at him and it’s all Keith can do not to flutter away right then and there.

“You too, Shiro,” He instead finds himself saying lamely as if he’d never spoken to another person before.

“Hey, you remember me!” Shiro laughs, small crows-feet dancing in the corner of his eyes as he grins. “Exploring the beach?”

“Y-yeah, but I think I have the wrong kind of shoes.” Keith starts before sheepishly adding, “Was gonna go buy some flip flops, and then I realized that I left my wallet at home.”

Shiro’s smile grows lopsided as he looks down at him. Usually, Keith would have felt uncomfortable with such an intense gaze from someone he had just met the same day, but something deep within him told him that Shiro was alright.

“What about you? Surfing?” Keith rushes out to cover for his embarrassment.

“Yeah! Actually, I teach surfing with some friends. My classes meet here.” 

“You teach surfing?” Keith parrots as if Shiro hadn’t just said so. 

‘Of course, he teaches surfing... just look at him, Keith...’ He felt five times less intelligent for even asking. Surprisingly enough, Shiro was no less excited about the topic when he replied. 

“Yeah! It’s pretty fun and the tourists love it.” He beams, “My classes always fill up pretty though, so it’s a popular sport in this town.”

Keith bet they did, though it surprised him that Shiro didn’t seem to realize just why his classes fill up so fast. To Keith, Shiro seemed like a genuinely kind guy, at least that’s what his first impression had been. Completely unbiased of course.

“But hey, here,” Shiro bent down, “You can borrow my sandals since I’ll be in the water the whole day.” And then he proceeded to remove both his sandals and plop them down before Keith’s shoes. 

“They’re clean, don’t worry.” Shiro smiled, “ That way you can explore the beach properly.”

“A-are you sure?” Keith squeaks, completely taken by surprise, ”How will you walk?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Shiro laughs and waves him off. “I kinda have beach feet, you know? I’m used to stomping around in the sand and stuff.”

“It’s seriously ok. I’m just happy to help you, Keith.” 

Keith is rendered speechless as Shiro grins and wiggles his feet in the sand to demonstrate that he would be alright. Had Keith just made a friend or was Shiro just being nice to him because they just moved in last week? Keith stiffens when Shiro walks closer and puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“Just have fun exploring, yeah? This beach is honestly amazing. You’ll see.” Shiro grins and laughs softly. 

“You can just leave my sandals on my porch if you can’t find me after,” Shiro says as he moves away, walking down the sand towards the sea as he waves happily at Keith. 

“O-ok, thank you,” Keith says, at least he thinks he says it. To be honest, he’s not quite sure if he even opened his mouth. Too perplexed by Shiro’s kindness towards a complete stranger.

As he watched Shiro walk away, Keith had a strange feeling in his chest. He couldn’t quite understand why Shiro would bend his back to help Keith, to basically give him the shirt off of his back, or sandals anyway. His mother had always told him that sometimes there were good people that just wanted to help others, to show other people what kindness really is all about.

Keith really hoped Shiro was one of those people...

Toeing off his sneakers and socks, Keith stepped into Shiro’s sandals and just about sank through the sand. Shiro’s shoes were huge on Keith’s feet, leaving several inches behind his heel when he secured the sandal between his toes. 

Taking the first few steps into the sand, Keith immediately felt a sense of calm flooding his body. He felt a certain sense of freedom overtake him as he neared the water. Once there, he sat down in the sand and looked out over the glittering vastness of it all. 

A little bit out there, Shiro sat on his surfboard with a ring of women and a few men surrounding him. He was talking to them, smiling and laughing as he tried to gesture...something. He looked really good out there. 

Watching Shiro’s students try and fail for a while, Keith let his thoughts wander as the time flew by. He hadn’t known Shiro for long, but he feared that Shiro would be the exact someone Keith would be looking for in a partner, if he would ever be looking for one, that is. 

“Patience yields focus!” Keith could hear Shiro shout at his students as they tried to ride a wave, the wind carrying his strong, unwavering voice to him.

Keith eventually stood up and started on the way back to their new home. Taking one last look back at Shiro in the water, Keith thought that maybe, just maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all...


	3. Chapter 3

It didn’t take Keith long to get dressed in his beach gear. His bag usually hung, ready to go, on the back of his bedroom door, so that whenever Shiro asked him to go surfing, Keith would be ready. His very own surfboard, one that Shiro had helped him pick out the first month after moving here, was perched on the wall of their garage, making everything that much easier. Shiro’s truck would hold both of the boards as he drove them. 

Running a hand over the long board, Keith smiled at the memory of buying it. After that first week when he’d watched Shiro hold his class, Keith found himself returning to the beach every time Shiro held his class. Eventually, Shiro had insisted on him joining them. 

It had been catastrophic. 

“You ready, Keith?” Shiro’s voice called from his driveway, his own board already laying in the bed of his truck as he waited for Keith to get his. 

“Coming,” Keith called, turning back to pick up his surfboard and close the garage door. 

“The weather report called for perfect surfing waves this morning. I have a feeling we might get lucky today.” Shiro smiled softly at him, eyes sparkling as he just stared. 

“Wherever you lead, I’ll follow, Shiro,” Keith smiled back, watching Shiro’s scar turn bright before a cute dusting of pink crossed his cheeks. 

“Was there something wrong with your board? I saw you staring at it earlier,” Shiro asked as he drove them the short way down to the beach. 

“Nah, was just remembering the day we bought it,” The smile on Shiro’s face was instantaneous. 

“You mean the day you nearly drowned?” He grinned as he glanced at Keith. 

“I didn’t nearly drown,” Keith huffs indignantly, although, if it hadn’t been for Shiro, he would have most likely sunk to the bottom of the ocean, never to be seen again. 

“Ah yes, of course not,” The smug grin didn’t leave Shiro’s face. 

“I didn’t!” Keith argues still, a grin of his own plastered on his face. 

“If I recall the day correctly, you hadn’t actually set foot in the ocean before. Still, you were convinced that you could surf.” Shiro’s grin has grown fond as he finds them a parking space close to the trail leading down to the beach. 

“Not every sailor knows how to swim, it wasn’t a big deal,” Keith mumbles, still feeling the burn of humiliation as he remembered. 

“True, but surfing and being on a boat is still two completely different things,”

“For one, you actually need to -swim- out to the waves to surf,” The smug grin is back on Shiro’s face as he reaches into the truck bed to get their boards. Keith just rolled his eyes as he left Shiro to carry both of their stuff. The guy had it coming after teasing him like that. 

It had been a day much like this one, the sun casting beautiful shapes on the skies, the wind blowing softly against his face. Of course, much had changed since then. Keith now knew how to both swim and surf, all thanks to Shiro. Back then, he hadn’t really understood the powers the sea held. 

Keith had been swimming before, of course, he had. His father had made sure that Keith knew how to swim from an early age. But they were all pools, water without movement, without a will of its own. And when Keith’s social anxiety grew, they eventually stopped going to the community pool.

When Keith first met the ocean, it took him all of ten seconds to be dragged underwater, the early morning glow of the sun blinking almost peacefully down at him as he was pulled this and that way, the rope to his borrowed surfboard the only thing connecting him to the world above.  
Panic had him frozen, unable to fight for life. And then, Shiro’s figure came diving after him, his face close to Keith’s as he hoisted him over his shoulder and kicked off towards the surface. Keith was lifted over Shiro’s big board, closely followed by Shiro himself ad the older man threw his legs over his thighs and pulled him close. 

Keith lay motionless as he looked up at the skies, as he looked at Shiro’s desperate face as the man did something. He didn’t snap out of his trance before Shiro’s desperate shout of his name reached his ears. 

Coughing water, Keith was roughly pulled to a sitting position, forehead resting on Shiro’s massive shoulder as the older man ran a hand up and down his spine, rumbling soothing words at Keith as he...

It had been humiliating ad gross, but Shiro had thought nothing of it. After a check-up with the town’s doctor, Shiro had brought him to a little store by the mountain. Keith hadn’t understood why Shiro did it, but he told him to remember what he saw as he was underwater and pick the first surfboard that popped out at him. 

“Here,” Shiro’s voice penetrated Keith’s memories. 

The dark blue galaxy surfboard was handed to him by a smiling Shiro, the two of them staring out over the ocean as the sun rose. It really was a beautiful morning. 

“You never told me what you saw, what made you pick this exact board,” Shiro hums as he removes his shirt and zips up his wetsuit. 

“I saw you,” Keith says, not waiting for Shiro’s reply as he runs toward the water’s edge and starts paddling. 

It doesn’t take long before Shiro is there by his side, the warm glow of the rising sun bathing him in the most beautiful of shadows. Keith finds that he’s unable to look away, something that results in more than one close encounter when a wave lifts the front of his surfboard. 

The waves that morning was, as Shiro had predicted, amazing. The number of times they almost brought them to the beach itself was more than any waves had done previously. Laughing and sabotaging, stealing waves and sharing them. Keith couldn’t remember ever having as much fun as this out in the ocean. 

By the time the two of them sit side by side out in the water, the sun is fully up and the beach has started filling up with tourists. Shiro looks breathtakingly gorgeous where he’s looking up at the sun with closed eyes, just bathing in its warmth. The white tuft of hair is brushed backward on Shiro’s head, the long strands curling, giving Shiro a boyishly cute look.

When Shiro’s eyes open as he looks down at him, Keith kept smiling. The warmth in those steel grey eyes never ceased to amaze him. Shiro wore a pink dusting from exertion over his cheeks, the tanned skin complimenting it as Shiro leaned in, their noses bump together by the motion of the waves, their warm breaths mingle, Shiro’s eyes close to half-lid as...

“Arthur! You get back here this instance!” an angry female voice shrieks at the beach followed by a child laughing maniacally. 

And like that, the moment is gone. When Keith looks back at Shiro, the older man has turned around is slowly paddling away, heading towards the beach. Keith can’t help the pang of regret that shoots through his chest as he watches Shiro paddle away. Had this been their chance? But a chance at what?

The drive home is silent, the two of them basking in the buzzing from their muscles or from embarrassment, Keith had never been good at telling feelings apart. Shiro’s face is still flushed, but if it’s from embarrassment or a sunburn, Keith has no idea. He’s quietly chewing on his inner lip as he drives, something Keith had learned that meant Shiro was in deep thoughts. 

“Would you like to go out for dinner with me this evening?” Shiro eventually spills out, face reddening even more as he refuses to look at Keith. 

“That would be nice,” Keith smiles, feeling relieved when he sees Shiro’s shoulders relax and that easy, heartwarming smile crossing his lips once more. 

When Shiro parks, he’s all smiles and bubblingly cheerful. The wrinkles at the corner of his eyes intensify when he grins and with a hand on Keith’s bicep, Shiro tells him he’ll pick him up at five. Keith can’t help the soft smile that crosses his lips when they part ways or the fluttering of his stomach. 

Then dread sets in...


	4. Chapter 4

Dating had never been on Keith’s radar before. As a teenager, when his fellow classmates started dating, he had been more interested in how the universe worked. With a Galran mother and a human father, it was only natural for Keith to be curious. The alliance had lasted for over a century already, but Keith still saw cases of racism happen on a weekly basis. 

Regris, his best friend since childhood was 75% Galran and 25% Nalquodian, one of Regris’ fathers even having a tail which Regris inherited. They were both old, as Galran’s usually were, both of them bearing marks of the universal war that raged before the peace, but they were two of the kindest people Keith knew. 

Together Kolivan and Antok had Ulaz and Regris, the youngest. Kolivan’s fathers, Regris’ grandparents, was the weirdest couple Keith had ever met before in his life. Blaytz was the Nalquodian king, Marmora, his husband, had been Zarkon, the Galran emperor, servant when they first met many centuries ago. But love found a way and together they raised Kolivan. 

Besides his own mother and father, theirs were the only two relationships Keith had been aware of since he was little. Ulaz dated and had relationships with people, but Keith wasn’t actually interested in what Ulaz did with his love life. Regris wasn’t much of a sweet talker himself, and as far as Keith knew, held no real interest in relationships either. 

Keith knew he had been interested in Shiro for quite a while, if he was being honest with himself, from the moment he had met him. Shiro was everything he valued in other people, everything he wanted as a friend. His kindness and willingness to help anyone outshone every minor fault that he did have. Not that they were many, to begin with. 

If he ever were to have a partner, he would have very much liked that partner to be Shiro. Someone he could have fun with, someone who understood him and read him like an open book, someone who could be both sensitive and rough without forcing it. Someone... like Shiro. 

So yeah, Keith might have held an interest to the thought of being Shiro’s romantic partner for a while, but would he ever dare to pursue that wish, to gamble their friendship on something that could potentially just be lust? 

Keith wasn’t so sure about that.

But then, if it only was lust, why did his heart still flutter in his chest whenever he thought of Shiro after such a long time? If it were only carnal cravings driving him forward, why did the way Shiro looked at him with that soft smile of his leave Keith sleepless the following night? 

Then Keith’s heart sank. Would Shiro even want to date him? He was a quirky guy, full of faults, easily agitated, he certainly wasn’t the best at expressing his feelings, and to top that off, he was already broken. Who would want a partner full of problems? 

As a friend, Shiro could always just walk back into his home and lock the door, leaving the craziness that was Keith behind. But as a partner, they would eventually share the same home and Shiro would have nowhere to run, would have nowhere to escape except for breaking Keith’s heart.

But why did Shiro lean in as if to kiss him earlier that day?

The sudden realization that Keith was alone hit him and he really missed Regris. His best friend would know what to do, would know what to say to calm Keith’s racing nerves. Regris was nothing if not prepared though. Opening his phone instead of his computer, Keith looked for the file Regris had lovingly named ‘Get Your Shit Together, Kitling!’ and smiled fondly at his ridiculous friend. Opening the file, Keith already knew the videos that greeted him. 

When Keith had told him they were moving, Regris had of course already known. Worried for Keith, he had filmed himself in a series of instances they had been through before. Each video was labeled for different events, pep talks, social anxiety, gatherings, meeting new friends, panic attacks and so on. 

It had saved Keith more than once through the years, but as Shiro became more and more important to him, he’d taken over the mantle of calming Keith down. Still, whenever Shiro was away for work, Keith would pull up one of Regris’ videos and do as instructed. He knew them all by heart by now.

Playing the video titled ‘You’re Good Enough’ Keith sat down by his bed, leaning onto Kosmo for emotional support. Regris’ purple face came into the camera, grumping about something before he cleared his voice and sheepishly rubbed his neck, his tail thumping agitatedly in the background. 

Keith really loved how each and every video started in somewhat the same way with his best friend’s sheepish face as he prepared to save Keith from a distance. Laughing softly, Keith ruffled Kosmo’s head as his dog’s ears perked up when he recognized Regris’ voice. He had half a mind to tell Kosmo not to teleport them as Regris started listing all the reasons why Keith was stupid and all the reasons why he shouldn’t question himself and so on. 

“Now listen up, Kitling,” Regris says, scowling into the camera, “Whatever this is about, whatever or whoever happened to make you feel this way, they’re wrong and you’re wrong.”

Keith couldn’t help the undignified snort that always left his throat whenever he heard Regris’ unwavering confidence in himself. He would even go as far as to claim that it rivaled his classmate Lance’s who’s confidence put the sun to shame on a daily basis.

“You are good enough, Keith, has always been and will always be. That you’re a little bit different just makes you special. Special in a good way.” The words never fail to have tears well up in his eyes and he wished more than anything that he could embrace Regris in a tight hug and thank him for doing this for him.

He’s feeling better by the time Regris is done with his speech, even laughed a time or two. He could do this, he knew he could. Keith would just tell Shiro to take it slow and Shiro would make sure Keith felt comfortable as they move forward.

Keith found at the end of it, that he wanted nothing more than to be Shiro’s special someone and for Shiro to be his. He knew without a doubt that Shiro would be a gentleman no matter where they decided to go after this date, he just hoped they’d still be friends by the end of it.


	5. Chapter 5

Getting ready to go out with Shiro, Keith checks his reflection on his dresser for what must be the fifth time in as many minutes. He’s dressed in his usual getup, pondering if this was a date or not if he should wear something else, something a little fancier. On the sixth time checking his mirror image, Keith decides to add the fingerless gloves Shiro had given him for Christmas that first year. 

Looking in the mirror this time proved to be exactly what Keith had been waiting for. He looked perfect. At least to his own eyes, but then Shiro liked him for who he was, right? 

What if Shiro didn’t like him for who he was?

Keith’s unable to let his anxiety grow into something more when the sound of Shiro’s front door closed shut. Looking out of his bedroom window, Keith saw Shiro locking his door. He was dressed in a henley and a pair of dark jeans, the fabric of what would be an insult to any long-sleeved t-shirt stretching impossibly over Shiro’s massive form, the jeans all but painted on him, showing off his firm, round butt and thick thighs. 

A boner was so not what Keith needed right then, yet, there he was, feeling his dick chubbing up, very much liking what he saw. Not that Keith could blame him, he very much liked what he saw as Shiro turned and walked towards their house. Looking up, Shiro waved happily with a smile as he spotted Keith in his bedroom window. 

If Keith had been any other man, he’d probably be embarrassed at being caught sneaking a look, but as he dug the heel of his hand against his chubbing dick, Keith couldn’t find the decency to blush. Turning to get his heartbeat under control, Keith rushed towards the front door, opening it a fraction as he walked over to put his shoes on. 

Bending over, Keith never saw Shiro bite his lips as his face turned an even darker shade of pink. 

“Ready?” Shiro grins as Keith stands up again, pulling his shirt down to cover the skin he’d revealed as he bent down. 

“Yeah, all good.” Keith smiles, “Are you okay? Your face is suddenly pink. You’re not getting sick, are you?” Keith asks like rapid-fire, immediately worrying. 

“Wh-what?” Shiro asks perplexed, hands coming up to feel his face, and then the shade darkens. “Oh yeah no, just hot outside.” He finishes, looking sheepish. 

“If you’re sure...” Keith replies, walking outside and registering that the weather wasn’t hot enough for Shiro to blotch up like this. 

“Absolutely!” Shiro grins as he closes the door, taking the keys from Keith to lock it like they always did. 

Rushing past Keith to open the door to his truck, Shiro grinned again before walking around the vehicle to get himself settled. ‘This was definitely a date!’ Keith thought, as full panic set in. He’d dreamed of this for a while, fantasized about how a date with Shiro would be and where they’d go. 

“Are you hungry?” Shiro asks as he starts the car and reverses it out of his driveway. 

“I could eat,” Keith replies, cause in reality, when could he not? He’d inherited the Galra’s insatiable hunger for nourishment.

“I know just the place then.” The smile that crosses Shiro’s lips could be described as nothing but fond. 

They ride in silence for a long while, just enjoying each other’s company. Shiro takes the long road to the beach, to a hill overlooking the sea where Keith’s favorite food carts were lined up on a small plateau with a few tables and benches. It was a perfect place to take someone on a date. But then again, Keith wasn’t all that surprised that Shiro took him here. He knew everything about Keith, knew what he liked and what he didn’t like, so why wouldn’t he take him here? 

“Here’s your plate.” Shiro hands him a giant plate of different kinds of bbq meats. 

“Thanks,” It looks mouthwateringly delicious and Keith is hungry enough to not even wait for Shiro to sit down. 

“Could eat?” Shiro laughs as he watched Keith all but devour a chicken leg. “More like starving, huh?”

“It’s good food.” Keith tries to say with a mouth full but stops abruptly when food threatens to spill. 

Shiro smiles fondly as he takes a napkin and wipes a spot of bbq sauce off of Keith’s cheek before digging into his own food. They do some small talk as they eat, Shiro ending up finishing before Keith, continues to chat softly as they watch the sunset. It bathes them in beautiful warm colors, the last heat of the day caressing them in the most romantic setting Keith could imagine. 

The thought has Keith swallowing wrong, setting him off into a coughing fit. Shiro is there in an instant, patting his back, and rubbing soft circles when Keith finally, after a few minutes quiets down again. He’s impossibly aware of the heat from Shiro’s huge palm where it rubs soft circles at the low of his back. It is a nice feeling, foreign, but not at all unwelcome as it sends butterflies fluttering around his filling stomach. 

Shiro has fed him with his favorite food, taken him to his favorite place at a beautiful time of day and now his hand was resting against the small of Keith’s back, almost holding his him as the two drew nearer and nearer as the chill of the night crept in. Shiro’s warmth drew Keith to eventually rest against Shiro’s side as they chatted about this and that. It was nice, Keith thought as the darkness wrapped around them, the only lights from the food carts behind them. 

They eventually fall into silence, just resting against each other, taking in the feeling of how they felt. Keith’s mind rushed as he thought about what this might be. A date and food, cuddling to the setting sun, would Shiro attempt t kiss him again as they ended the night? Would he be kissed for the first time on his doorstep like all of the people in those cheesy romantic movies?

“Hey,” Shiro’s voice broke through the thoughts in his head. “Wanna get out of here?”

“Sure,” Keith smiled when he eaned back, already missing the heat of Shiro’s arm around him. Once more, Shiro opened the door for him, but this time, Keith couldn’t hide the unabashed smile that crossed his lips. 

‘Get out of here’ apparently meant go dancing, something Keith had yet to master in his twenty-one years on this earth. As usual, Shiro was a god on the dance floor, moving to the beat like a freed hose of water. The music seemed to just flow through him, sending him smoothly through the air in ways Keith could only dream about. 

After a few rounds of staccato movements, Keith eventually excused himself as he went to sit down at their table. When they arrived at the club, Matt and Curtis had waited for them at a table, apparently knowing they would be there later that night. When a few rounds of drinks ended up with Shiro dragging Keith off to the dance floor, Keith couldn’t really try to hide his happiness. 

He’d been horrible, a disgraced partner to Shiro’s sleek lines where he moved. But no matter how many times Keith had tried to excuse himself, to tell Shiro that he was ruining his fun, Shiro refused to let him go, pleading with him for just one more dance. Keith was as helpless against those big gray eyes as he was to anything Shiro did, but he’d always cave a hundred times faster when Shiro brought out the puppy eyes. 

Chatting with Matt for a bit, Keith took the time to cool down with a bottle of water. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy, this...bubbly. Smiling to himself, he tried to make out Shiro from the crowd, something that never proved difficult as Shiro usually towered over everyone. And if height failed, Shiro’s white tuft of hair usually worked as a dead giveaway. 

Smiling as he nodded to something Matt said, Keith finally caught Shiro’s figure on the dance floor. He’s dancing with someone, the two of them are in perfect sync as they move to the rhythm of the music. Shiro throws his head back in that laughter that usually sends the butterflies in his stomach on a rampage. As they turn, Curtis’ laughing, smiling face greets Keith as Shiro’s dance partner, immediately wiping the smile he wore off of his lips. 

Keith knows he holds no claim to Shiro, he knows that, but he had hoped, hoped so dearly that Shiro would be interested in him, the same way Keith was in Shiro. After this morning with the almost kiss, after their date with the cuddling, Keith had been so sure. Had Keith made it up to be something it wasn’t after all? Shiro could have leaned forward to do something, to remove something and get caught off balance by a wave, sending him into Keith. 

The date could have just been two friends catching a bite to eat together. It wasn’t the first time they went out to eat together like this. In fact, t had been very much like the other times they’d gone out to the beach to eat. And what Keith believed to be cuddling, could have just been two friends huddling together for warmth. Shiro’s henley was incredibly thin after all. 

Feeling stupid and heartbroken, Keith forced himself to look away from the couple on the dance floor. Of course, Shiro would attract a more suitable partner. Who was Keith to even fool himself with the dream that Shiro would find him desirable? 

As he chats almost mutedly with Matt, Keith can’t help but let his eyes drift to the dance floor time and time again. The minutes tick by, five becomes ten, ten becomes twenty and before he knows it, an hour has passed them by. Shiro is still dancing with Curtis, the two laughings and smiling as they move. 

Curtis is waving his arms around like a flapping bird, embarrassing himself for everyone to see. At least, that’s what it looks like to Keith. But in reality, the two looked perfect where they moved together, like a mating dance where they both tried to impress the other partner. 

Keith is about to excuse himself to go out and get some fresh air when another guy walks up to Shiro. He’s tall and lean, just like Curtis, but he wears glasses and has wavy hair. He stops in front of Shiro and the smile that crosses Shiro’s lips, just before he embraces the guy in a super tight hug, just about punches the air out of Keith’s lungs.

He’s helpless where he sits, staring at this new guy and the way the two cling to each other in the middle of a moving dance floor. Keith feels cold in the boiling air of the room, the music is too loud in his ears and his chest physically hurts. He must have made a sound as Matt clicks his tongue.

“That’s Adam, Shiro’s ex-fiance,” He informs helpfully as if Keith had even wanted to know. The words took a few seconds to register, but when they did, Keith felt so small. 

Shiro’s ex-fiance? 

Shiro had been engaged? 

Keith watched as the two laughed, still holding onto each other, even though the hug was over. He watched as Shiro introduced this Adam to Curtis, the other man smiling warmly, a blush on his cheeks as he sheepishly took Adam’s outreached hand in his own. 

And then they were moving.


	6. Chapter 6

Keith’s worst nightmare is unfolding before his very eyes. Not only had their date been something Keith had made up in his head. Not only had Shiro been engaged before and never told Keith about it, but now Shiro was bringing his ex-fiance and his own new fling with him to their booth. 

And just when Keith didn’t think it could get any worse, it does. Matt greets Adam like he would a friend, with a big hug, smiling and laughing as he asks about how he’s been doing and boasting about how good it is to see him again. Keith feels queasy. 

Then Shiro turns to Keith, grinning like he no longer has any business to, grinning like a Cheshire cat who caught its prey and executed their master plan of mass destruction, before looking him in the eyes and introducing his ex. 

“Keith, this is Adam.” Shiro smiles, voice excited and fond as he pulls Adam forward with a hand on the small of Adam’s back. 

“Adam, this is Keith, my best friend, no offense Matt.” He laughs loudly as Matt fakes an insulted gasp. 

“Hey,” Keith says politely as he takes Adam’s hand and shakes it in greeting. His parents raised no ingrate, no matter how much the contact of Adam’s hand makes Keith want to growl. 

“Nice to meet you, Keith.” Adam smiles and something in his eyes sends a chill down Keith’s back. Those eyes, they see straight through you. 

“You guys don’t mind if Adam joins us, do you?” Shiro asks, smiling as he’s waiting for replies. No one objects. 

But Keith minds, Keith minds a lot. He’s shoved further into the booth by Shiro pressing Adam into the seat before following with Curtis on the other side of him. Keith is boxed in, forced to sit too close to Shiro’s ex-fiance, forced to look at Shiro with his new conquest across the table. 

He’s never been good with big groups, never liked big events or gatherings. Even the nightclub they were at was too big for him, but he’d always felt safe in places like these with Shiro by his side, always felt that he could do anything as long as Shiro had his back. But now, even with Shiro there, Keith felt caged. 

The four of them laugh and swap stories, Curtis obviously not knowing Adam from before. He gapes and laughs almost too animatedly, clutching onto Shiro’s bicep as he does, and Shiro allows the contact, even grins down at him. The conversation moves to Curtis awing over how big Shiro’s biceps were, Adam piping in that that they always had been, throwing in a lewd comment about how everything about Shiro was well proportioned. 

Shiro breaks out in hysterical laughter, Matt following suit as they howl about how inappropriate that comment was. Shiro’s cheeks are flushed a brilliant pink as he smiles at Adam when the smaller man touches him a little too familiarly. The conversation moves on again, smoothly shifting as if nothing had happened. But something had happened. Unbeknown, unseen by everyone around the table, Keith’s cup of stressing events had reached the top of the brim. 

The four of them laughed and chatted happily as Keith was slowly shutting down, the blur of their bodies blending together, their voices turning to mush as Keith starts hyperventilating. His chest hurts from more than that of lack of air. 

Keith can’t breathe. 

He needs air. 

Now. 

Stars are dancing before his eyes when Shiro’s shape leans across the table towards him, big hand softly curling around his wrist, squeezing what would have been comfortable if Keith wasn’t stressing out like he was doing right at that moment.

“Keith?” Shiro’s deep voice penetrates to his ears, “Keith, are you alright?” 

Shiro sounds worried, Keith’s able to register that much, but then Adam and Curtis’ voices follow along with their hands and there’s just, there are too many hands on his body. Before Keith even know what he’s doing, he’s slid under the table and is stumbling towards the exit. He can hear the muffled sound of Shiro’s voice following behind him, but he doesn’t stop once he reaches the exit, full panic setting in as his limbs become sluggish. 

Keith’s granted a break when he raises his hand and a cab actually stops right in front of him. For once this night, something actually went his way. He fumbles with the handle a little too long, panic rising higher as Shiro’s voice comes closer. He finally gets the door open and slumps inside the cab, slamming the door shut a little too hard. 

“Go!” He shouts desperately, “Please go!” His voice sounds wet and pathetic, pleading and weak even to his own ears. 

There’s a hard thump in the trunk as the cab speeds away from the curb outside the nightclub, Shiro’s desperately shouting for the cab to stop. Keith’s breathing harshly in the backseat, trying to get control of his ever-climbing panic. Tears blend everything together and squeezing them shut only results in the tears spilling over, rolling down his face as if they were mocking him. Leaning his head back, Keith breathes deeply, slowly. 

“Are you alright there, Champ?” The cab driver, an older man with a remarkably bright orange mustache asks, voice dripping with worry and wavering as he speaks softly, big blue eyes staring at Keith through the rearview mirror. Keith is unable to answer for a few minutes, just focuses on breathing, of getting much-needed air into his lungs.

“Did he hurt you in any way? Do we need to take you to the hospital?” Coran, Keith recognizes once his sight clears and he’s able to see again. 

“N-no...” He croaks, “Thanks.” Keith ads an afterthought. 

“I just want to go home, please.” He begs, feeling like a scared little child. He gives the address and sighs in relief when Coran opts for telling a story from his home planet and how he loved the job as a cab driver, getting to meet all these people. 

Coran’s voice is the perfect background noise as Keith focuses on calming down. His chest still feels like it’s wrapped in a tight vice, making breathing difficult. But the longer he listens to Coran, the calmer he gets and before he knows it, they pull up outside his house.  
Looking at the taximeter, Keith pulls out the amount and gives it to Coran after stepping outside, the older man having rolled down his window. Keith gives him the money, but Coran just folds Keith’s fingers back over the bills and smiles at him. 

“It’s alright, kid. Just get inside safe and remember to lock the door. Don’t open up for anyone.” Coran smiles. 

Keith is too tired, too... heartbroken to argue. Thanking Coran for his kindness, Keith walks the few steps up to their front porch and unlocks the door. The house is quiet, his parents having already gone to bed hours before by the sound of the vibrations coming from his father’s snores. 

Keith’s room was luckily enough on the first floor, easy access to the front door. It had been one of his criteria as they all moved to this town and as he opened his bedroom door, Keith was happy his parents were upstairs at the other end of the house. Sighing deeply, Keith turns on the lights and removes his jacket, the red and white leather jacket his father had given him years ago.

He saw the headlights of Coran’s taxi turn around as the older man had waited to see Keith turn the lights on before driving away. Exhausted and frayed, Keith plops down on his bed staring up at the ceiling as his ears ring softly, insistently as the events of the day play through his mind. 

Fresh tears spring through his closed eyes as he lays there breathing softly, trying to convince himself that his heart wasn’t ripped out of his chest earlier that night. Keith’s phone vibrates, lighting up the room in a soft blue sheen. Keith doesn’t need to look at the screen to know it’s Shiro calling. His phone had been vibrating the majority of the ride from the club, but Keith had refused to pick it up, too humiliated, too heartbroken to hear Shiro’s voice. 

He gets into bed when the phone’s screen goes black, head hitting the pillow with an audible thud. How could this day have gone so bad? How could Keith have misunderstood Shiro’s intentions so spectacularly? His phone lights up several more times as the minutes go by, but Keith doesn’t care. He’s rolled over on his back, staring up at the ceiling. 

The headlights of a vehicle make shapes dance across the walls in his room. He can hear Shiro’s low rumble as he sends the driver off and then, a short while later, there’s a soft but audible tapping on his bedroom window followed by Shiro calling out his name. 

Shiro sounds so worried as if it’s his heart breaking. It sets Keith’s teeth on edge, makes him feel anger instead of hurt, giving him a much welcome break from the pain. His phone continues to ring, bathing the room in a soft blue hue on and off. Keith closed his eyes after the first five minutes, forcing himself to go to sleep. He never hears Shiro leaving for his own home or his brokenly whispered ‘I’m sorry, Keith...’ to the glass of his window.


	7. Chapter 7

Keith wakes up late the next morning, a thundering headache tapdancing in his head, just because. When he eventually muster enough energy to drag his body into the bathroom to brush his teeth, he’s almost surprised to see the reflection looking back at him. Almost. His skin is a dull gray, the bruises beneath his eyes purple and huge, almost giving him that ‘barfight’ look. Keith feels as haggard as roadkill, he even looks the part.

Long minutes later, he drags his feet down to the kitchen, not really in the mood for food, but with his half Galra metabolism, breakfast wasn’t exactly a meal he could skip. His parents smiling faces greets him as he enters the too-bright room, the two of them sitting close and looking as in love as ever. It sent a fresh pang of pain through Keith’s chest. 

“Mornin’,” He mumbles, the sound rasps so harshly through Keith’s throat that he’s forced to cough. 

“You alright there?” Krolia asks, a raised brow directed at him. 

Keith just hums noncommittally and sits down on the other side of his parents, reaching for some toast to stuff into his mouth so that he wouldn’t be expected to reply to any questions. It’s a childish move that ten out of ten times never works, but Keith’s never been one to give up on hope, except... The thought of giving up on Shiro enters his mind, making the food in his mouth turn to ash, draining what little energy he woke up with.

Keith’s never been a morning person, but he’s never had as much trouble as he has right then to stay awake at the breakfast table. His body hurts and his mind feels like space must have done after the war, empty, except the debris of broken dreams floating around.

“Shiro came by earlier,” His father says, intelligent eyes zeroing in on the way Keith shifts at the information. “said he was worried about you.” 

And just like that, Keith is fucked. He just knows that he is. But Krolia smacks his father’s arm and scowls harshly before turning to Keith with a huge grin on her face. 

“Your dad and I decided to get married!” She grins, looking like a little girl on Christmas eve. 

His father sighs and smiles fondly at her, every bit as in love with his wife as he was the day he met her. ‘It must be nice...’ Keith thought as he stares at his parents, his father taking Krolia’s much bigger hand and lifting it to his lips before kissing the knuckles. His mother’s purple face gets an immediate dark dusting, the scene almost adorable, though disturbing enough to snap Keith out of it. 

“That’s nice, congratulation,” He starts, picking his toast down. “I thought you were already married though?” 

“We are, but we were looking through our wedding album a few days ago and then your father goes down on one knee once more, right there in the living room, and asks for my hand in marriage again. You should have seen him, Keith.” Krolia laughs as if it was the funniest thing his mother had ever witnessed. His mother turns to his father and kisses his cheek before the two of them grin warmly at each other. 

“I took your mother down to the beach yesterday, the place you and Shiro like so much, the one by the cliff,” His father smiles, grunting when Krolia elbows him in the ribs. He scowls down at her before taking her hand once more to kiss the knuckles.

“We’re getting married at the beach next Sunday.” He continues, smiling wildly and apparently, by the looks of it, only a millisecond away from devouring his mother’s hand. 

“I’m happy for you. Congratulations.” Keith tries his best to sound sincere, but the words and the fake smile he gives feels wrong somehow.

It’s not that he isn’t happy for his parents. It’s not that at all. He loves his parents dearly and he’ll be the first one to congratulate them on renewing their vows. He’s happy that his parents are as much in love today as they were when they met. He just doesn’t want to rain on their parade with his own problems. His parents deserved better.

“Is there anything I can do to help out?” Keith asks instead, looking down at his mangled piece of toast. It looks as pitiful as he feels.

“Most of the preparations got taken care of yesterday, but we might need some help with picking up some last-minute flowers on the day of the wedding. Other than that, you just need to bring yourself and your plus one.” Krolia smiles, looking expectantly at Keith.

‘A plus one...’ Keith repeated in his head. He doesn’t have a plus one. Lance was probably bringing that day’s crush, Matt had Romelle, Hunk had Shay, and Shiro, Shiro would come with Adam or Curtis, or heck, why not both of them. He could feel his father’s eyes burning as he looked at Keith, reading him like an open book. 

“Yeah, okay.” He said, excusing himself after clearing the plate and the mangled toast. 

Keith fumed as he stepped outside and started his hoverbike. Pidge would maybe go if he begged hard enough, but like him, Pidge had never been much of a wedding goer. Not that there were a lot of weddings going around, it just wasn’t their style. At least that’s what Keith told himself. 

He sees Shiro running barefooted out of his door just as he kicks off on his hoverbike. Keith knows that Shiro saw him come, but he pretends that he didn’t, all so that he didn’t have to have the no doubt most painful and awkward conversation of his life. He’d already had to fake congratulations once that morning, he knew he didn’t have another one in him. 

So Keith doesn’t stop as he takes his hoverbike out for a good, long, hard ride. He needs the freedom of the wind in his hair, the scenery flashing by as he passes. He had always had a weakness for hoverbiking, his father taking him on rides from an early age, but it wasn’t until he met Shiro that it really took off. 

He’d always had a sense of freedom while cutting through the air. The feeling that came with sailing through, getting to anywhere you needed to whenever you wanted was the best feeling in the universe. Of course, when he’d gotten to know Shiro, he had become a big part of his enjoyment with riding. Doing it alone just didn’t feel the same anymore. It was probably why an hour in, Keith found himself at another tiny food truck area on the other side of the town’s coastline. 

Breakfast had been a sorry ordeal, the poor toast feeding his plate with crumbs more than making it into his mouth. Now, his stomach was growling angrily at him, reminding him of his abuse. The food truck had other patrons seated at the outdoor tables, eating happily during their lunch break. Keith had ordered a huge serving, balancing it in both hands as he clumsily moved towards a rock, the only free surface left. Apparently, lunchtime was busy over here. 

“Keith!” A voice called to him as he passed the sitting area. 

Turning around, Keith was face to face with the most dapper, orange mustache he’d ever seen in his life. Coran grinned happily at him, his small eyes crinkling at the corners. 

“Come sit with me, my lad.” Coran smiles, gesturing wildly to the empty seat on the other side of the table. 

“Thank you,” Keith finds himself saying before he can turn the older man down. 

“Say, that is quite the portion you got there.” Coran laughs, digging into something that looks suspiciously like green jelly. “Must be your Galran metabolism shining through.”

“Uh...yeah?” He doesn’t know how Coran knows about his Galra side, the two of them didn’t exactly know each other well. 

He had first met Coran while visiting Shiro at work. Coran’s blindingly bright presence had hit Keith like nothing before ever had. Shiro’s truck had been in for service and Keith had offered to drive his best friend to and from work. He was already going out to get to his college classes, so why not. 

“Shiro talks about you all the time. The boy is as shy as they come, but when it comes to you, he even talks my ears off, something Allura would argue was impossible before you and your family moved down here.” The older man laughs, twirling his mustache as he no doubt argues Allura’s denial in his own mind. 

“O-oh...” Keith makes a sound like a fish above water, never having heard this side before. Shiro talked about him at work? 

“Oh yes, Shiro is quite fond of you it seems.” Coran smiles around a spoonful of space goo. 

“Yeah, sure...” Keith grumbled, not agreeing in the least. 

He was being unfair to Shiro, he knew that, but the realization that his best friend wasn’t interested in him, after all, was hitting him hard. It wasn’t so much the humiliation of being mistaken, of walking around the whole day like a lovesick puppy, even begging enough to make Shiro try to kiss him. 

No, the humiliation of that, he could live with. The pain, the betrayal of Shiro not being straight with him was what made him angry with the other man. In Keith’s mind, they had been best friends for quite a while, told each other secrets, leaned on each other when the going got rough, spent what spare time they had with each other. As childish as the word best friend was to an adult, that was what Keith thought of their relationship. 

It hurt that Shiro didn’t feel the same way. It hurt even more that Shiro had humored him for the whole day, waiting for Curtis and Adam to arrive before non-verbally breaking the news to him that he just wasn’t a desirable mate. 

“Are you feeling better, champ?” Coran breaks through his inner monolog. “You looked quite upset last night.”

“I-I’m alright. Thanks for asking, Coran.” Keith lies through his teeth, apparently not doing a very good job of it by the look on Coran’s face. 

“You know, young love isn’t always as straight forward as we would like it to be. Like my great-great-great-grandfather once said -” Coran started, but Keith couldn’t listen to this. 

“Coran, I appreciate what you did last night, but I’m not up for discussing this.” Keith tries, he really does try, to say it as kindly as possible. 

“Ah, that’s fair, that’s fair, my lad. Just promise me you’ll give Shiro a chance, yea?” The older man’s mustache twitches as he leans over the table to pin Keith with a look. 

Under any other circumstances, the sight would have been hilarious, but right now, it poured gasoline to Keith’s already raging fire. 

“Sure,” He bites out and to his surprise, that’s it. 

Coran nods contently and goes back to eating his space goo, every now and then stopping to tell the wildest stories Keith has ever heard in his life, and before he knows it, his plate is cleared and he’s actually feeling a little bit better. The dooming dark cloud doesn’t loom over his head anymore, which should be a good thing, but instead, it made room for loneliness. 

"Well, I better head out then. Work to do, work to do," Coran winks, looking clever as if he’d just discovered the meaning of life. 

“Yeah, uh thanks. See you around then,” And Keith hopes that he does. 

As he watches the older man head off to his taxi, Keith hopes that he’ll see Coran again, maybe for another awkward lunch. The hour he’d spent stuffing his face had been good, had made him feel a little less depressed and he found that he actually liked listening to Coran dive into the stories he told.


	8. Chapter 8

Keith could be a sneaky little shit if he wanted to be. But it was nothing short of a miracle when he manages to avoid talking with Shiro for the rest of the following week. There’s been so many close encounters, so many odd escapes and poor excuses to whomever he was with at the time, some of which had his all-seeing father quirk a prominent eyebrow at him more than once. Still, his father didn’t question him, let him dance around Shiro as much as he liked as he made painfully long conversations with Shiro while Keith hid. If it was to punish him or not, he didn’t know. 

The wedding thankfully took up a lot of time as the days went by. There were a lot of last-minute preparations that needed to be done, guests to be picked up from the airport hours away, settling said guests into their holiday cabins near the beach. All nice excuses to avoid Shiro in Keith’s mind. 

But like all good things, Keith’s luck had to run out. He had expected to have to meet Shiro with a fake smile plastered on his face during the wedding itself where he could make a quick getaway, disguised as someone calling his name. Instead, Shiro corners him in a flower shop that morning. 

Keith is at old Iverson’s flower shop to pick up some last-minute flowers that wouldn’t survive well out by the beach for long. He’d promised his father to pick them up, along with a surprise flower bouquet of his mother’s favorite flowers from Diabazal. Smiling at the romantic sap his father was, Keith’s face shoots up in surprise when car tires screech outside of the store. When no crash follows, Keith turns back to carefully close the lid on the box the precious bouquet. When he turns around though, his biggest nightmare is blocking the door. 

Shiro looks drop-dead gorgeous where he stands in the door frame, pink anger and worry dusting his face as he stomps over and scowls down at Keith, squaring his already impossibly broad shoulders in a poor attempt to force the truth out of him. Something told Keith that Shiro already knew this wouldn’t work. 

“What is wrong with you?” Shiro all but growls, eyebrows meeting in the middle, as if in a furious tango as he grabs Keiths elbow.

“Let go, Shiro.” Keith snarls back, yanking his arm free none too gently, making Shiro wince and grab his upper arm where his prosthetic was attached. 

Keith feels a chill run down his back, terrified that he’d just hurt Shiro. The prosthetic had always been a bother for Shiro, it was heavy and made his arm hurt with certain movements, Keith knew this, had helped Shiro ease the pain away many times through their friendship. But never once had Keith been the cause of Shiro’s pain like this. Fear crushed his anger like early morning waves crashing against cliffs, leaving him pale and fumbling. 

“I don’t have time for this,” Instead of the soft apology he wants to give, an angry defensive bite escapes his lips. 

He regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth, but it was already too late. The hurt rapidly filing Shiro’s eyes have a painful vice squeeze his heart and lungs until it’s getting difficult to breathe. When he tries to move past Shiro, he’s grabbed once more by the same hand and has to once more pull away harshly, much in the same manner, to get away, causing Shiro to wince and swear again. 

“I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t - I didn’t mean to...” Keith stumbles, looking up at Shiro’s pained and confused eyes. 

“Keith, what’s going on?” He pleads and the sight hurts too much, the sound of his wavering voice as he all but begs Keith. 

“We were having such a good time, surfing in the morning, the d... going out to dinner and then to the club. Keith, I don’t know what happened, but whatever it was, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Shiro says, but never date. He never says date which just confirms Keith’s fears. There was no date, to begin with, only Keith’s stupid dreams... 

“I don’t have time for you, Takashi,” Keith says cooly, using Shiro’s whole name. 

The shocking pain that immediately crosses Shiro’s face is as hard as a blow to the face. But didn’t he have that coming for trolling Keith? Clutching the bouquet box tighter, Keith shouts a quick ‘I’m leaving, Mr. Iverson. See you later!’ before scowling harshly at a frozen Shiro. 

“Goddamnit, Keith,” Shiro snarls as he moves to stop Keith again, but this time, they’re interrupted by Adam’s voice yelling from Shiro's car parked right behind Keith’s on the outside. 

“Come on, Takashiro! We’ll be late for the wedding,” Adam shouts and that’s all Keith needs to hear. 

“Yeah, come on, Takashiro, go to your boyfriend,” Keith spits, “wouldn’t want you to be late for the wedding.” And with that he walks out of the store, leaving a very confused looking Shiro behind inside the flower shop. 

Shiro is still inside the flower shop when Keith has rearranged the flowers and the bouquet box in his car, is still inside the building when Keith pulls out into the quiet street as he headed towards the beach, the place that would renew his parents’ vows and hold Keith’s most painful memory forever. 

He’s close to tears a few times as he drives, the pain in his chest almost unbearable. He misses his best friend, the stupid domestic things they did each day, their talks and the way Shiro would make him feel good, just by being by his side. The thought that he’d never have that again was almost too much for him to bear. 

The knock on the window had Keith’s soul leaving his poor, stressed body. Looking out, Regris’ apologetic face met him. His childhood best friend grinned at him for a few seconds before his smile fell and worried brows knitted together. Keith both hated and loved that someone else than Shiro knew him this well. 

Opening the door, he was immediately lifted up into a tight embrace. Regris’ huge arms squeezed him tightly as his tail wound itself around Keith’s leg, just like it used to when they were kids and Regris wanted to show how much Keith meant to him. 

Sighing deeply, Keith rested his head on Regris shoulder, his own arms holding onto whatever they could reach from their pinned down position. He saw Shiro and Adam arrive in Shiro’s car, Adam leading a sad-looking Shiro away. Regris didn’t let go of him before the couple had disappeared, walking towards the small reception tent where there’d be cold drinks and shade. 

“Thank you, Regris, I really needed that hug,” Keith smiles up at him, “Fuck, I’ve missed you.” He huffs a soft, wet sounding laugh, giving Regris an extra hug for good measure. 

“I’ve missed you too, Keith,” Regris asks when Keith breaks the hug, big hand on his shoulder refusing Keith to break eye-contact. 

“So what happened with Romeo?” Count on Regris to turn to low-blow humor when it came to Keith’s emotions. 

“I have to get the flowers down to the beach, Regris, and his name is Shiro.” Keith smiles, moving past his friend to get to the back. 

Regris grunts a confirmative as he helps Keith with the bigger flower arrangements, silently walking by his side as they moved past the reception tent and over to the area his parents had chosen to hold the ceremony a little bit off from the tent. Pulling out the poorly doodled note his father had given him late last night, the two work in silence, placing each arrangement on their rightful place, frowning every now and then as they tried to figure out exactly Keith’s father had doodled. 

“So...” Regris mumbles when they’re nearing the end, “Shiro, huh?”

“Regris... I’m not in - It just not the right -” Keith tried before sighing deeply, shoulders sinking with the weight of defeat.

“I thought he asked me out on a date, we had dinner, cuddled and laughed. I had the best day of my life and then he took us to a club where he met up with his boyfriends.” Keith says solemnly, refusing to look at Regris as he spoke. 

“Sorry, I don’t think I heard you right, Keith. Boyfriends?” Regris’ voice comes from right behind him a moment before strong arms carefully twist him around. 

A big purple finger softly lifts his chin, forcing him to look up into Regris’ eyes. The yellow orbs, so full of love, understanding, and support, looking down into his purple ones, were more of a comfort than Keith would have thought. At that moment, he couldn’t hide just how much he’d missed the man before him. 

A sob escapes his throat as he closes his eyes and lays his head on Regris’ chest, arms circling the taller Galran as he holds on tight. It doesn’t take long before Regris’ own arms wound around Keith’s smaller frame, a big hand rubbing his back as he breathes heavily. Leaning down to rest his head on Keith’s, Regris reminds him of his breathing routine.

“Tell me what happened, Keith,” Regris whispers, leaning his forehead to Keith’s when he’s calmed down enough. 

“We were out surfing last Sunday, having a good time, catching some great waves, resting on our boards before the beach got too crowded. Shiro leaned in, I thought it was to kiss me, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.” Keith starts quietly, turning his face down into Regris’ suit shirt to wipe his tears before continuing. 

“When he drove us home from the beach, he fumbled and blushed, asking if I wanted to go out to dinner later that day, just the two of us. I-I thought he asked me out on a date, Regris, and for the first few hours, it seemed like a date.” The sad sigh that escaped him sounded almost pathetic. 

“He dressed up really nice and took me to my favorite food truck, the place on top of the hill overlooking the sea and the beach. He ordered me all my favorite foods, down to the very last mouthwatering bit of meat. I was pleasantly full by the time I had cleared the plate.” Keith smiles softly up at Regris as he straightened up again, righting his now tear-streaked shirt. 

“I even let him have a few bites of my meat,” Keith huffed fondly at the memory, at the sensation that went through him at the time. He wasn’t at all surprised to see Regris’ eyes widen at the admission. 

“The sun had started to set, illuminating the sitting area in a warm glow from both the setting sun and the small pixie light overhead. Then he leaned into me and wrapped his arms around me as we watched the sunset.” Gathering the flower boxes, Keith held them tightly to his chest as he looked up at his best friend. 

“Regris, I-I loved him so fiercely right then.” Regris just nods, softly, letting Keith gather his thoughts. 

“We headed out to a nightclub after that, after it got dark. Shiro’s a really good dancer and I enjoy seeing him dance. We always have fun whenever he takes me dancing, but then he met a friend, well, his boyfriend, or rather one of them.” Keith mused to himself, “At least that’s what it looks like. 

“After an hour or so, Adam came to join them and they headed towards our table. I was sitting with Matt, Pidge’s older brother, you know, the cocky one. He’s actually really nice once you get to really know him. Shiro sat down with each of his boyfriends, being all touchy and snarky with inuendos. Turns out, Adam was Shiro’s fiance before he moved.” They were back at Keith’s car when he finished his story, stuffing te boxes back into his car. 

“Remind me to thank this Coran guy when we see him,” Regris says solemnly, a deep frown marring his face. 

The guests were already moving toward the seats beautifully placed on the sand. The white flowery arch where his parents would stand waved almost magically as the wind blew past it, but still, Keith couldn’t find it in him to muster the happiness he wanted to show his parents. 

“I think that’s our cue, Keith,” Regris says behind him, a big hand steering him towards the beach where they would both stand. “Let us talk about this after your parents get hitched again though,” 

“Sure...” Keith sighs in defeat, trying his best to work up his happy face. 

If he couldn’t hide from his parents, at least he wouldn’t give the guests a reason to question his love and happiness for them. It would be a real comfort to have Regris walk him down the aisle though, to have the support of his best friend as he played nice for the gallery before them.


	9. Chapter 9

Walking up an aisle with another man had Keith thinking about how much he had wished for Regris to be Shiro, how much he wished that it one day would be the two of them walking up a makeshift aisle, maybe even on this exact beach. 

But dreams were made for breaking and with that, so was all of Keith’s dreams broken. Walking past friends of the family with a stiff feeling smile, felt as weird as it must have looked. Regris’ arm kept squeezing Keith’s hand whenever he would start slowing down, panic set in as a second of doubt entered his mind. At one point, that grounding, heavy tail had wound around his right leg, probably the only reason Keith managed to walk straight. The end of the aisle was almost within his reach when Shiro turned around with murder in his eyes directed straight at Regris. 

“Ooh, I think your mate wants to kill me, kitling,” Regris whispers down at him, all but a shit-eating grin on his face as he leans in to kiss Keith’s forehead, making the guests coo. 

But before Keith could angrily swat him away and deny the outlandish proclamation, they had reached the end of the aisle and had to part ways. Regris joined his father, Kolivan dressed in a beautiful ceremonial dress from Diabazal, his long braid hanging loosely over his shoulder. His massive chest has been puffed out since the moment he and Regris started walking up the aisle, the toothy, sharp grin on his face showing how proud he was of his son. 

His own father smiled reassuringly at him as he struggled to walk smoothly to stand behind him. The sharp glint in his eyes told Keith everything he needed to know. His little play for the galleries wasn’t working as well as he wanted it to. 

“How are you holding up, son?” His father whispers, straightening up when the music starts but giving Keith his full attention. 

“I’m fine,” Keith lies, fully aware that his father could tell. 

“We can stop this right now, right here if you need some space, Keith.” And the words have stubborn tears spring to Keith’s eyes. His father turns around to face him just as his mother becomes visible. 

“Just say the words, Keith. You are the most important person here today,”

“D-dad...” Keith croaks, unable to hold back a tear that rolls down his cheek. 

That his father was willing to call off or pause the wedding just to let Keith breathe meant more to him than anything in the world. Keith could see the worry in his mother’s eyes as she closely followed the scene they made. Luckily for Keith, the guests had all turned to face Krolia the moment the music had started. 

Everyone, except Shiro. 

The older man had a conflicted look on his face, his brows pulled down in a hard line as he chewed on his inner lip, a worried tic he had. 

“I-It’s fine, dad. I’ll be alright.” Keith lies again but squeezes his father’s hand, that had found its way to his bicep, in reassurance. 

A few seconds pass before his father sighs and leans down to kiss his forehead. Smiling towards his mother, Keith is relieved to see his father finally turn around to face her. He gives her a smile of his own, relieved to see the worry lessen when his mother smiles back at him. 

Krolia looked beautiful where she slowly strode up the aisle, accompanied by Antok. He too wore a pretty ceremonial dress from Diabazal, but it had nothing on the long white wedding dress his mother wore. In that moment, Keith had never been more proud of his mother. 

It was nice to see her in something else than overalls and sweats for once. Of course, Keolia dressed up every now and then, but rarely did she look at nice as this. It was, Keith mused, probably one of the reasons Keith knew his father truly loved his mother. As if his father’s dopey, tear-streaked face wasn’t an immediate giveaway into the man’s emotions. Smiling softly, Keith looked over at Regris who grinned back at him. He had apparently been staring at them the whole time. 

When it was time for the rings to be exchanged, Krolia looked around expectantly, obviously thinking that Kolivan would have them or something similar. When soft trotting music started playing and Kosmo, dressed in his finest red bowtie, padded up the aisle carrying the pillow with their rebuffed wedding rings, the guests all sighed and laughed softly. 

His mother leaned into his father and shook her head, whispering something that was lost on everyone as she smiled into her husband’s shoulder. Kosmo’s big tail wagged as he came to a stop before his own ‘parents’ and sat down, presenting the pillow to them. It was the cutest thing Keith had seen. His father had probably spent the whole week teaching Kosmo just how to do this. 

Regris and Keith spend the rest of the ceremony grinning and snickering to each other and when Keith's parents finally were pronounced husband and wife once more, the two of them, along with everyone else cheered and clapped happily. Despite everything, it was really nice to see his parents this happy together.

Following after his parents, they meet again on the way down the aisle, head, and bodies nestled close together as they grinned, laughing about someone’s outrageous getup, Regris’ head suddenly pops up as they pass by Shiro’s seat. Behind them, Keith can hear both Kolivan and Antok growling in response to their son’s reaction. 

Keith refuses to look in Shiro’s direction, fearing that he wouldn’t be strong enough to see the man’s face. All smiles and laughter are gone, replaced by strained tension that Keith tries his best to let go of, plastering a fake smile on his face as they follow his parents to freedom. 

“Your mate is angry, jealous,” Regris whispers as they keep moving. 

“He’s not my mate, Regris.” Keith sighs, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

“Does he know that?” Regris asks confused. 

“Let it go. He has someone else.” Keith says with such finality that Regris wisely shuts up. 

Everyone has just cleared the aisle and is moving over to the shadowed tent when a solid bulk hoists Keith up over a broad shoulder in a fireman’s carry with a hastily barked ‘Excuse us,’ to Regris before he’s whisked away down the aisle once more. 

Keith’s stomach flips in anticipation. He would recognize that voice, these shoulders and that ass anywhere.


	10. Chapter 10

“Let me down, Shiro!” Keith seeth where he’s held down over Shiro’s massive shoulder

He’s dropped none too gently to the sand beyond the flowery arch short seconds later and when he’s gathered himself enough to scowl up at Shiro, the man stands before him, arms crossed and brows furrowed.

“Speak,” Shiro demands, which in turn sets Keith’s insides on fire. 

“You have no right to...” Keith starts as he pokes an aggressive finger at Shiro’s chest. 

“I have every right, Keith.” He starts, his anger bleeding away as his face falls and he uncrosses his arms, the massive limbs hanging limply by his side before he looks into Keith’s eyes. 

“Keith... What did I do?” He begs, voice cracking with sorrow as he searches Keith’s eyes for answers.

“We were doing so good and then....” Keith looks away as he crosses his own arms defensively. “Your boyfriend’s probably looking for you.” He bites out suddenly, the words bearing no heat than trying to cover his own pain, as he tries to walk around Shiro. 

“Keith, I don’t have a boyfriend, at least not yet,” Shiro says hopefully, grabbing Keith’s bicep as he tries to walk away. 

It sets Keith’s blood on fire again. 

“Then go to him instead of wasting your time with me.” Keith barks before turning around to stare out towards the sea and the setting sun instead, too vulnerable to face the wedding guests just yet. 

He’s feeling every bit the heartbroken teenager he’s acting like. When he hears Shiro move, he’s unable to turn around to watch him walking away from him in search of Adam. 

“Is this because of Adam?” Shiro asks softly instead, pulling harshly at Keith’s heartstrings.  
Shiro is standing right behind him, the heat of his bigger frame radiating even through the heat of the air. Keith doesn’t reply though, biting his lip as he feels his shoulders raising to protect his vulnerable neck. 

“Adam and I haven’t been an item for many, many years now. We were engaged once, but we weren’t meant to be, Keith. I never thought to tell you, because I didn’t think it mattered. Adam moved away after we broke up and I bought the house next to where you live now,” Shiro explains slowly, moving a hand to softly cup Keith’s elbow. 

“We lost contact for a few years. I was surprised to see him last week, but Keith, I’ve only had eyes for one man the past two years and nothing or no one will ever change that.” Shiro finishes, dropping the hand on his elbow and letting the silence settle between the two of them. 

Keith can feel Shiro’s heat radiating on his back, feels the need to lean back into that warmth, but he doesn’t. Shiro admitting to having wanted Curtis for the past two years hurt him more than Shiro getting back together with Adam ever could have. 

Curtis had been an acquaintance all these years, never really being a part of their group, having his own friends that he preferred to hang with. Still, Shiro had never brought him along when Keith was there. The realization that Shiro didn’t want Keith to be near Curtis was enough to break the dam on the tears Keith had tried so hard to hold in. 

“Then I hope you and Curtis will be happy.” Keith manages to deliver surprisingly steady, his tone of voice almost good enough to fool himself. But he should have known better. 

Shiro knew him better than Keith knew himself... 

“Curtis?” Shiro asks, disbelief all but dripping from his voice. “Keith, I’m in love with you.” The sobs that race through his body at those words has Keith curling in on himself, head bowed as he lets all the pain out, wanting to believe Shiro’s words so much. 

Strong arms wound around him, finally pressing him close to that wide, warm expanse of his chest. Shiro’s head comes to rest on Keith’s shoulder as he lets him cry, lets Keith release all the pent up emotions he’s held in the past week and just holds him, supporting him like he’s done every day since they first met. 

Keith is oh so gently rocked in the cocoon of Shiro’s arms, the two of them completely bound by the moment. Keith eventually calms down, the sobs subsiding into deep breaths, the anger draining and head clearing as Shiro softly turns him around in his arms to face him. The cool metal of Shiro’s prosthetic fingers gently lifts Keith’s chin, softly making him meet Shiro’s own red-rimmed, wet eyes. 

“What a pair we make.” Shiro smiles down at him, his fingers shifting to caress Keith’s cheek, thumb gently rubbing a tear away. 

“Regris?” Shiro asks gently and Keith immediately hears the words Shiro doesn’t dare add to the question. 

“Still just a friend. Childhood best friend, remember?” Keith rasps, voice rough from emotions as he leans into Shiro’s touch. 

“Curtis?” Keith asks hopefully. 

“Newest guy at work and totally not interested in me.” Shiro smiles, making Keith chuckle with the absurdity of the situation. 

He’s smiling happily by the time Shiro leans down and their lips meet in a kiss that truly does take his breath away. The feeling of getting embraced by Shiro in a setting like this is one Keith never will forget. Moaning into the kiss, Keith’s not at all sad when Shiro deepens it, arms curling tighter around Keith’s waist. 

He doesn’t know how long they stand there kissing, but he doesn’t want it to ever stop. Vaguely, he can hear the catcalls in front of them, can see his mother and father through the flowery arch when he opens an eye to look. But Shiro turn’s them around once more, shielding Keith’s need for privacy from the wedding guests. With the setting sun at their back, Shiro and Keith are lost to the outside world. 

When they finally broke apart, Shiro rested his forehead to Keith’s, sighing happily with his eyes closed. He still held onto Keith as if he was afraid of ever letting go, afraid that if he did, this would all be a dream and he would wake up alone. Shiro didn’t open his beautiful eyes for long moments, but when he did, it was only to be greeted by Keiths. 

“There he is,” Keith whispers, smiling softly. 

“Here I am,” Shiro whispers back, eyes never leaving Keith’s. “Are you alright with this? Alright with me wanting you like this?” 

“I am. I think I’ve been alright with it for a very long time, but Shiro, this is...” Keith tries, but can’t quite find the words to finish his thoughts. 

“I know,” Shiro replies though, smiling softly down at Keith. “We’ll take this as slow as you need it to, okay?”

Huffing a soft laugh, Keith can’t help the grin that spreads across his lips. Even when Keith didn’t know what to say, Shiro knew him well enough to finish the sentence for him, to reply to the question he never asked. Keith knew that without a doubt, Shiro would never purposefully hurt him, be it physically or emotionally. 

Tightening his hold around Shiro’s neck, Keith pushed him down into another sweet kiss, the two of them losing themself in the feeling of each other once more.

“I love you...” Keith whispered into Shiro’s lips and immediately, the tension and insecurity that was left in the bigger man left him, making Shiro soft and pliant against him. 

“I love you so much, Keith...”

~ The End.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Remember to have a look at Synne's amazing art before you go!
> 
> https://twitter.com/synnesai/status/1208080048445485056?s=19


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